Lard: Superfood of 2009....?

Lard.

I just love that I am posting in order to extol the potential virtues of lard. Especially in the face of so many lard nay-sayers out there.  After all, it is a saturated animal fat so therefore must be the cause of atrocities like heart disease and the like, right? 

Honestly, I am not convinced.  If you would like to hear the pro-saturated fat side of the argument, I suggest you check out the Weston A. Price Foundation.  They are just one of the groups challenging our current ideas around the relationship between saturated fats and disease.  Here is a list of articles on their site exploring this topic. Speaking as someone that fell utterly into the fat-free fad of the 90's, I confess that I find the opinions at WAPF very refreshing.  Take a look and see what you think. 

But I'm not really here to talk about lard as a saturated fat.  I'm excited because I've read a few sources marking lard (from pastured pigs) as one of the richest dietary sources of vitamin D. This makes sense that you would find it in concentrated amounts in the fat of an animal as it is a fat-soluble vitamin.  Vitty D has been in the news quite a bit these days because of how prevalent deficiencies are and the possible links to many health issues, including MS.  This just means we need to consume more of it either through food, supplementation, or sunlight exposure.  And considering how little sunlight we get in the lovely Pacific Northwest, getting our D from the sun isn't as easy up here as it is in sunny California.

I myself have a rather significant deficiency in vitty D as well as an intolerance to all supplemental forms of it.  That's right, all of them.  I have yet to find a vitamin D supplement that I don't react to, and none of my doctors have been able to figure out why or what to do about it.  So food sources are my only way to go.

I bought a lovely bucket of lard this past weekend at the local farmers market and I'm going to start cooking everything I can palatably justify in it (my husband deterred me from attempting to make salad dressing out of it- saying something about that being gross).  I'll retest my vitty D levels in a few months and see if they've come up at all.

You'll be among the first to know.

Also, many thanks to Seabreeze Farm and the amazing products they bring to our local farmers market every week.  I used to travel over to Vashon several years ago to get their raw milk (before I was fully aware of the dairy allergy) and they've grown so much since then.  

The List

That's right, this is the List with a capital "L".

Today was an outrageously snowy day in Seattle, unlike what we usually see here in December.  Most of my clients canceled for the day, so I fantasized about what I want to bake next.  Sweet potato cornbread?  Chocolate chip cookies?  (I'm still working on those brownies, so maybe the cookies will have to wait a bit).  This weekend I plan on making either peppermint bark or dark chocolate truffles, but I need to make a decision and a trip to the store before this happens.

I think I got a bit sidetracked there.  Back to the list...

A few weeks ago I finally took a food allergy test with my naturopath after many years of elimination diets, guesswork, and pure observation.  An elimination diet made it clear to me years ago that wheat and dairy and I didn't get along, but there were some foods I suspected I was reacting to, without much proof.

The test shows the level of allergy to a food ranging from "no reaction" to "high".  So, this is what I found:

High

Almonds.  These were actually reading off the charts, so I'd say my reaction to almonds is more of a High+.  This was one of those foods I suspected but had no idea it was so high.  Wow.

Moderate to High

Dairy.  Of the cow variety.  I knew this.

Eggs.  This I didn't know and I was sorely disappointed.  Going out to breakfast will be hard.

Yeast.  This includes both bakers yeast and brewers yeast.

Low to Moderate

Sugar cane.  This was closer to "moderate" than "low".

Cranberry.  I can live without this if I have to!

Wheat and wheat gluten.  I knew this and have been eating gluten-free for about 8 months now.

Spelt.  This was news!

Oyster.  Okay...

Low

Peanut, pecan, soy, red tomato, garlic, lettuce, cauliflower, radish, white potato, goat dairy, and barley.

Not on the test, but I don't need one to tell me I react to...

Alcohol.  Yes, it's a sad reality.

Vitamin D.  Doctors are baffled by this, but I can't tolerate any food that has vit d added.  Think dairy, most brands of rice milk, etc.

Phew.  There it is.  Honestly, I am not going to abstain from everything in the "low" category, because really... come on.  I must still maintain my sanity as well!  Otherwise, I'll do my best to avoid everything in the low/moderate to high categories and then re-test in 6-8 months or so to see if it is different.

I'm my own science experiment.

The great news?  I show as having no reaction to chocolate, honey, coffee bean,  ALL meats (can you say carnivore?), all seafood, corn, coconut, oats, sesame, and walnuts.  Of course there are many other foods I didn't show any reaction to, but these make me really happy for various reasons.

Because really, you could probably win me over with sushi and dark chocolate.  So it's good to know these do well with me.

Prepare for lift-off

I really don't know how to start this blog.  I don't.  All I know is that sometime last week I found myself making a decision that I've been fighting for years now:

I am going to accept the fact that I am allergic to (intolerant of, really... but we'll get into that later) tons of foods and I'm even going to damn well enjoy it.

This is huge for me.  Most of you don't know me and don't know the slew of practitioners I've seen, the weekly doctor visits, the classes, the energy-workers, the diets, the "detoxing", the determination, and the tears.  I was sure.  I was so so sure that I was going to beat my body into submission and force it to learn to love all of these foods, vitamins, and drinks that it has been reacting to on a daily basis for as long as I can remember.  If only I could figure out the missing link, the auto-immune factor, or the endocrine issue that was causing this weakness.  I tried just about everything and still I couldn't figure out how to make my body change.  Well I have tried my darnedest and I think it's time for me to try the one thing I haven't tried yet.  

I'm going to live happily - even thrive - in a wheat, gluten, dairy, egg, sugar, alcohol, vitamin D, almond, oyster, and yeast free world.

So this is my new playground.

I love food.  I love cooking, baking, and sharing food.  Honestly, it's a relief to think I can finally let myself off the hook for a while.  Instead of trying to figure out how to fix myself all of the time I'm just going to explore all of the ways I can enjoy myself while I am here.